Eggs are an ever-present, universally accepted staple that is found in virtually every household. The ability to mass-produce messages and/or images on the shells of the eggs represents a unique and heretofore unexploited opportunity to communicate with countless numbers of people. As will become apparent, the communicated information can be, for example, the name and/or logo of the egg producer, or of the store from which the eggs are purchased, or of a third party paying to advertise on the eggshell. In addition, the name and/or flag of the country which is the source of the egg can be imprinted on the egg for political, economic or charitable identification. Naturally, limitless other texts and/or images can be printed, including but not limited to cartoon characters, images of famous people, recreated works of art and other such indicia, instructions, warnings, and communications pertaining to the egg or to matters other than the egg. Of course, combinations of more than one of the foregoing can be printed on different portions of the eggs. Regardless of the format, the eggshell becomes a novel medium for mass communication. All of the foregoing types of graphic and informational images and texts are hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cpromotional imagesxe2x80x9d regardless of whether the motive for imprinting the eggs is political, commercial, informational, instructional, charitable, promotional, etc.
In accordance with the invention, eggs are preferably positioned on moving conveyor are and manipulated to position the desired region or regions of the eggshell for imprinting contact by an image-bearing tampon. Multi-color images can be produced by sequentially contacting the eggs with a plurality of tampons. Numerous other printing methods may also be employed, as hereinafter described, without departing from the spirit of the invention.
These and other features of the invention will become apparent in the following description of the preferred embodiment of which the drawings form a part.